Howard Eaton Lomax, M. D., the leading physician of New
Baltimore, Greene County, N. Y., is a native of the city of Albany, and was born
on April 30, 1868, son of John and Martha (Eaton) Lomax. On the paternal side he
is descended from French Protestants, of Huguenots, who, after revocation of the
Edict of Nantes in 1685, fled from persecution in their native country to
England.

The Doctor’s paternal grandfather emigrated from England
some time after his marriage, and, settling in Boston, Mass., there engaged in
the manufacture of soap and tallow candles. His son John was born in England,
but was brought up in Boston, and learned the harness-maker’s trade in that
city. Nearly forty years ago John Lomax, the Doctor’s father, took a position
with Holland Terrell, the well-known harness manufacturer of Albany, and is now
foreman of the establishment, which is said to be the largest of its kind in the
world. He is an active Republican, and he takes a warm interest in all Masonic
affairs. Among the Masonic offices he has held may be named the following:
Master of Mount Vernon Lodge, F. & A. M., in 1870; secretary of the Masonic
Veteran Association for three years. His wife, Martha, was born in Chelsea,
Mass. She is a member of the Episcopal church. Of their eight children five are
living—Ella, Hattie, Fannie, Howard E., and Edith. Ella is the wife of Harry
Knight, of Denver, Col.; Hattie is the wife of C. W. Forman, of Yorktown, N.Y.;
Fannie is Mrs. Charles A Pray, of Lebanon, Me.; and Edith is principal of the
Albany Training School of Teachers.

Dr. Lomax was graduated from the Albany High School in 1888.
He subsequently engaged as a draughtsman in New York City for a year with Gillam,
the celebrated cartoonist of Judge. He then entered the Albany Medical
College, from which he was graduated in 1892, and he has since been engaged in
the practice of his profession in this town. During his first year in the high
school he was awarded a gold medal for excellence in drawing, being the first
boy and the first Freshman to receive a medal in the history of that school. He
still retains much of his early skill with the pencil. The Doctor’s course in
the medical college was one of distinction. He won two prizes, and at graduation
received honorable mention in three subjects. Since coming here he has built up
the largest practice the town has ever known, and is a popular as he is
successful. He has been three times vice-president of the Greene County Medical
Society, and has written numerous papers and addresses on medical subjects, and
some articles for publication in medical journals. He is a devoted student of
natural history, and has a fine entomological collection, also an interesting
collection of snakes and serpents.

Dr. Lomax is a fine singer and a skilful performer on the
piano, organ, and flute. He began playing the flute in early boyhood, under the
instruction of his father, who was a fine flutist and a member of Gilmore’s
celebrated band when first it was organized. When a boy of only sixteen the
Doctor was in demand for orchestras. As he became older his musical ability was
of great service to him, enabling him to pay his college expenses. For two
seasons he performed on one of the day boats running from Albany, and in the
evenings played in the orchestra at the Leland Opera House. For two seasons he
was at Saratoga in the orchestra and for two seasons at the Prospect Park House
in the Catskills. He has played under all the leading conductors of Albany, and
is well known among the musicians of that city.

Like his father, Dr. Lomax is interested in masonry. He is
now serving his second term as Master of Social Friendship Lodge, No. 741, of
New Baltimore, and has held various other offices in the lodge, among them that
of Senior Deacon. In politics he is a Republican. For the last four years he has
been one of the health officers of the town. He is a Deacon in the Dutch
Reformed church, of which both he and his wife are members, and Mrs. Lomax has
played the organ for both church and Sunday-school.

The Doctor’s marriage took place in September, 1897. Mrs.
Lomax is the daughter of Newton Sweet, a leading citizen of New Baltimore. Her
grandfather, Joshua Sweet, who was born in Chesterville, Albany County, was a
carpenter by trade. He worked on the old Catskill Mountain House, and later came
to New Baltimore and engaged in contracting and building until his death, at the
age of sixty-eight. His wife, Laura Baker, died at the age of seventy-four. She
was one of the eight children of an Englishman who came with his family from
England to Philadelphia, from there by stage to New York, thence up the Hudson
to Albany and thence by stage to Coeymans. He engaged in mercantile life in New
York City, and there fell a victim to small-pox. Joshua and Laura Sweet were the
parents of three children: Frank; Newton; and Laura, who married Watson Ham.

Newton Sweet was born in this town on December 16, 1848.
After attending Coeymans Academy for four years, he began teaching school
winters and working at carpentering summers. This he continued till twenty-four
years of age, when he left off his trade and thenceforward kept at his
profession work all year. He taught successively in the graded school at Iron
Works, Troy, where he remained five years; in the graded school in Coeymans; in
New Baltimore for a year; and then, in the year 1893-94, in West Coxsackie.
While at New Baltimore he was elected School Commissioner for the Second
District of Greene County, which included the towns of New Baltimore, Coxsackie,
Greenville, Durham, Ashland, Windham, and Prattsville. He had eighty schools to
look after and a hundred teachers to examine, and must visit each school twice a
year. After serving three years he was elected for a second term, at the close
of which he began teaching in West Coxsackie. At the end of a year there he was
secured for the New Baltimore school, but while attending a teachers’
institute in Cairo, where the Republican convention was in session, he was
nominated for the Assembly. He was triumphantly elected by the majority of four
hundred, going ninety ballots ahead of the ticket in this town, and being the
third Supervisor ever elected on the Republican ticket in this Democratic
stronghold. He voted for the Raines Bill, and in 1897 was re-elected by a
majority of five hundred and fifty. During his two terms he rendered his
constituents valuable service. He introduced a bill to prohibit vivisection in
the public schools, and served on various educational committees.

Mr. Sweet has resided in New Baltimore village for the last
eighteen years. He is prominent in Masonic circles and in the Knights of Pythias.
His wife Adelaide, was born in Coeymans, the daughter of Philip and Jane (Van
Allen) Winne. Mr. and Mrs. Sweet have five children—Frank, Jane (Mrs. Lamox),
Laura, Isaac, and Arba. Frank is the foreman of Cushmans’ bakery in New York
City. He married Marietta Vanderpool, daughter of Dr. A. V. S. Vanderpool, of
this town. Isaac has been for the last three years quartermaster on the
"Dean Richmond." Arba is preparing to be a locomotive engineer.

Mrs. Lomax taught school in New Baltimore with most
flattering success for some time before her marriage. She is a fine musician.
The Doctor and his wife have one son, Edmund W. Lomax.